Thermic siphon and method of making the same



April 14, 1931. G. .1. CHRISTENSON 1,300,506

THERMIC SIPHON AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Dec. 14, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet l April 14, 1931 G. J. CHRISTENSON 1,800,506

THERMIC smwn AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Dec. 14, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 14, 1931 GUST CI-IRESTENSON, OF, CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T6 LOCQZVIO' IIVEFIREBOX COMPANY, OF CHICAGQ,ILLINOIS, A GOFLEORATIOZ'Z 0F DELAY TARE rnnnlvno sinner? Ann METHOD orMAKING THE SAME.

Application filed December 14, 1929. semi 1%. 414,023.

This invention relates to improvements in thermic siphons and method ofmaking the same and it consists of the matters hereinafter described andmore particularly point ed out in the appended claims.

The thermic siphon with which my invention is mo-reparticularlyconcerned is of the kind'best shown in the Nicholson Patent No.1,337,720. Such a siphon is employed in the firebox of locomotiveboilers and usually has its inlet neck opening through the throat sheetand its outlet or discharge, opening through the crown sheet. Siphons ofthis kind, increase the water steaming and circuilating etliciencies ofthe boiler and act to keep the high end of the crown sheet flooded, evenat water levels below normal.-

Due to their construction, such siphons are expensive to produce. In theNicholson patent before referred to, the siphon was formed from a singlepiece of sheet metal first cut to a pattern, and then folded along apredetermined line, Thereafter certain forming operations were carriedout and the associated edges of the, sheet were then weld- This left awelded. seam along ed together. one end of the body which extended downthrough the neck, the neck being trans-verselysta-yed for strength tothedeterment of a free'uninterrupted circulation. Such a siphon'isdiflicult to produce, is' expensive not only as to labor cost but alsobecause of the accuracy necessary to make a perfect one and this, ofcourse, often results in scrapping the i siphon as imperfect followingrigid tests.

In Patent No. 1,717,033 of June 11, 1929, granted to Walter H. Hinschand myself, the siphon body was made of one or more parts and the tubewasslit and formed for attachment to the body, the tube'providing theinlet neck and a part ofthe closedbot tom, the other part of'the closedbottom being'formed to a part of the body'itself- Such a structure whilereducing. the cost of mak- ,ing siphons had certain disadvantages whichthe present invention overcomes. I

The primary ob ect of the invention 1s to provide a siphon of this landwhich can be more easily made without the requirement of expensiveapparatus, which contemplates manner of making the same.

" ofFig. 4 after it has had other operations in Fig. 5.

beginning at one end.

the'production of-difl'erent sizes of siphon s;

Wit-lrbuta. few number of parts and which provides a siphon'wherein thewelded seams are so disposed as to be in a manner protected against theabrasive wearing action of the products of combustion in the \vhichtheyareinstalled.

Another object of the invention is-to provide a siphon which can be madefrom a single piece of seamless tubing and a single metallic plate,coordinated to provide afsi phon entirely bottomedcby the tubing.

The invention consists generally of the" steps, acts andsequence-thereof and a siphon resulting therefrom whereby theabovem'ention'ed objects as well as others, together with;

the many advantages thereof that will here ina'fter appear areattainable and my inven,-' tion will be more readily understood byreference to the accompanying drawing-which illustrates the improvedsiphon as well as the In the drawings Fig. 1 is a longitudinal verticalsectional. View through a locomotive boilenfireboxin which is located asiphon made in accordance with the preferred embodiment of my'invention.

. Flg. 2 1s a transverse vertical sectional View. through the same astaken on the line 22 of 1. I

Fig. 3" is a horizontal sectional view through the same as takenfl onthe line of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of a. tube from and after it has been slitfor the purpose of opening the same as'will later appear.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the tube.

. e I a which a part of my improved siphon is made performed thereon tomake it ready to re- 7 ceive the siphon body as will" later appear.

Fig. dis a fragmentary perspective View of the siphon body when readyfor attachment to the tube, when in the condition shown Generally'statedItalic a piece of seamless steel-tubing ofthe desired length andslit thesame along one'side the desired dist; nee

ll thenopen portions no i ' later attached thereto.

of the tube along each side of the slit to form flanges thereon, spacedapart a distance equal to that of the side walls of the body to be Ithen flatten that end of the tube at which the slit begins, down to awidth corresponding to the lateral spacing of the said flanges and thenbend said end so that it extends at the desired angle with respect tothe remainder of the tube. I-then take a piece of sheet metal such asboiler plate and cut it to such a pattern that when folded along itstransverse median line, it will produce a body open at its top, bottomand one end and closed at the other end. The open bottom end of saidbody is trimmed to fit or match up with the flanges and flattenedend ofthe tube and is then butt welded thereto. In the formation of theflattened end of the tube and the body, suitable registering openingsare provided to receive transverse staybolts and the siphon is thenready for applying in place in a firebox.

Referringnow in detail to the accompanying drawings, and moreparticularly to Figs. 4, '5 and 6 respectively, I provide a piece ofseamless steel tubing 1 of proper length and diameter and slit the samelongitudinally along one side as at 2, from'one end as best shown inFig: 4. Portions of the. tube on each side of the slit are then openedup to provide a pair of parallel laterally spaced flanges 33 on saidtubing. V

, That end of the tube at which the slit 2 begins, is then flatteneddown as at 4: to a width approximating the spacing of flanges 3 and isthen bent in the plane of said flanges to approximately a right angle toprovide an angularly disposed extension 5 onsaid tube as best shown inFig. 5. In the. flattened part of the tube, near its free edges. areformed registering staybolt openings 6. Instead of bending the slit tubeafter flattening the end thereof, I may bend said end of the tube andflatten it afterwards.

Coa'cting with the tube thus far formed is the body 7 which is made froma sheet of boiler plate or the like, cut to the proper pattern and thenbent along a transverse medianline to provide side walls 88 connectedtogether by a rounded end wall 9. In said walls are registering stayboltopenings 10. From the above description taken in connection with Figs. 1and 6 of the drawings, it is apparent that the body while beingsubstantially rectangular in shape, is open at the top and bottom and atthe shorter end and is closed at its longer end. The bottom of each sidewall as well as its shorter end are trimmed to match up with the flanges3 and flattened end part 40f the tube 1.

' After the body 7 has been trimmed to fit the tube the associated edgesof the body and tube are butt welded together as at, 11 and staybolts 12are applied in the registering "holes 6 and 10 respectively of the tubeand body. In this respect it is pointed out that said staybolts may beapplied to the tube and body before they are welded together, just aswell as after they are welded together as above mentioned.

lVith the parts trimmed, staybolted and welded together as described, asiphon is provided as best illustrated in Fig. 1, wherein that end 13 ofthe tube 1 beyond the body 7 provides the inlet neck 1 for the siphon.To apply such a siphon in place in the firebox, the crown sheet 14thereof is provided with a longitudinally extending opening 15 toreceive the top end of the body 7 and flattened part 5 of the tube andthe same are then welded in place as at 16 from the interior of thefirebox. The inner throat sheet17 of the firebox is provided with anannularly corrugated diaphragm 18 to receive the end of the neck 13which is thereafter welded in place.

as at 19. 7 7 I In forming the siphon, I prefer to make them oversize asto height and length of neck and then trim the siphon to fit theparticular firebox'in which it is to be installed. Thus I am not held tosuch close tolerances as are necessary in making the siphon from asinglepiece of sheet metal as in the Nicholson pat ent and it is not necessaryto cut the bottom end of the body and the edges of the flanges of thetube along such irregular lines as in the Hinsch and Christenson patentbefore mentioned. With my improved structure, the lines of trimming aresubstantially regular ones and are easy to produce.

IWhen my improved siphon is in place in a firebox as above mentioned, itis apparent that a structure is provided wherein the bottom of thesiphon is inclined upwardly and rearwardly and the upper rear end is ofa depth less than the front end and merges into the bottom on a generouscurve. Such a structure has advantages such as increased heating surfacearea and when arch brick are supported at one end upon said siphon, alarger arch is permitted without bringingitsfront end too close to thecrown sheet.

While in describing my invention, I have referred in detail to the form,arrangement and construction of the various parts thereof, as well as toa certain sequence in forming and assembling said parts, the same is tobe considered merely as illustrative so that I do not wish to be limitedthereto except as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention 1. The method of making thermic siphons whichconsists in providing an open top, flat hollow siphon body having sidewalls, in slitting a seamless metallic tube throughout a portion of itslength beginning at one end thereof, opening up portions of the tubeupon opposite sides of the slit to provide parallel flanges thereon,forming the tube so that the form an inlet neck therefor.

2. The method of making thermic siphons which consists in providing anopentop, flat hollow siphon body having side walls, in slitting aseamless metallic tube throughout a portion of its length beginningatone end thereof, opening up portions of the tube upon opposite sidesof the slit to provide parallel flanges thereon, flattening said end ofthe tube down to a width approximating the spacing of said flangesthereon so that a portion of said end forms a continuation of saidflanges, forming the edges of said flanges and their continuations onthe flattened end of the tube so that they fit the desired edges of thebody and then welding the fitted edges of the body and tube together,the unslitted end of the tube projecting beyond one end'of the siphonbody to form an'inlet neck therefor.

3. The method of making thermic siphons which consists-in providing anopen top, flat hollow siphon body having. side walls, in slitting aseamless metallictube throughout a portion of its length, opening upportions of the tube upon opposite sides of theslit to provide parallelflanges thereon, forming said flanges so that the edges thereof fit thedesired edges ofthe side walls of the body and i then welding the fittededegs of the body side walls and said flanges together, one end of saidtube terminating substantially at the top of the siphon body and theother end projecting beyond one end of the siphon body to form the inletneck therefor.

4. The method of making thermic siphons which consists in providing aflat hollow body open at the top, bottom and one end and closed at theother end, in slitting a tube throughout a portion of its lengthbeginning at one end thereof, opening up desired portions of the tubeupon opposite sides of the slit to provide parallel flanges thereon,forming one end of said tube anda portion adjacent thereto to fit theopen end and bottom respectively of the body and welding'said open endand bottom of the body to said flanges of the tube, the other end of thetube projecting beyond the closed end of the body to form the inlet necktherefor.

5. The method of making thermic siphons which consists in providing aflat hollow siphon body open at the top, bottom andone end and closed atthe other end, in slitting a tube throughout aportion of its length 7beginning at one end thereof, opening up desired portions of the tubeupon opposite sides of the slit to provide parallel flanges thereon,bending one end of said tube in the.

plane of ;the flanges to, conform i;to;theiopen end of-thebody,-fitting..said open .end iland bottom of theibody to -saidbentend,of-.lthe l tubeand the flanges thereon, and thenwveld- .ing ,sai'dfitted 1 part together, the other .1 end ofthe tube extending-beyondtheclosed end ,='of the body to form; an inlet .-neck-.therefor.

6.. Themethod of making 'thermicsiphons which consists in providing a.fl'at hollow siphon body. open atxthe top, bottom and one v end andclosed .at; the .other. end, in slitting v a tube throughout a portionof its length beginning at one end thereof, opening up desired portionsof the tube upon opposite sides of the slit to provide parallel flangesthereon, bending one end of said tube in the plane of the flanges toconform to the open end of the body, flattening said tube to a widthequal to the spacing of said flanges, fitting said open end and bottomof the body to said bent flattened end part of the tube and the flangesthereon and then welding said fitted parts together, the other end ofthe tube extending beyond the closed end of the body to form an inletneck therefor.

7 A siphon of the kind described embodying therein an upper hollow bodyportion and a lower tubular bottom member having. I

flanges fitting desired portions of the body,

one end of said tubular member terminating approximately in the plane ofthe top of the siphon and the other end of said tubular member extendingbeyond one end of the body to forman inlet neck therefor.

8. A siphon of the kind described embodying therein a flat hollow bodyopen at the top, bottom and one end and closed at the other end, and atube having spaced flanges conforming to said open end and bottom ofsaid body and welded thereto, the other and closed end of said tubeextending beyond the closed end of the body to form the inlet necktherefor.

9. A siphon of the kind described embodying therein a flat hollow bodyopen at the top, bottom and one end and closed at the other end and atube having spaced flanges and one end of said tube being flattened andbent in the plane of the flanges to receive the open end and bottom ofsaid body which is secured thereto, the other and closed end of saidtube extending beyond the closed end of the body to form the inlet necktherefor. v

10. A siphon of the kind described embodying therein a flat hollow bodyopen at the top, bottom and one end and closed at the other end and atube having flanges engaged with and secured to the edges of said openand bent end fitting the open end of the body v and a, .portion of saidtube'adjacent' said'end fitting the open bottom'of the body and meansfor attaching said portion of the tube and body together and transversestaybolts in said flattened end of the body, the other end of the tubeextending beyond theclosed end of the body to form an inlet endtherefor. y In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this'lOday ofDecember, 1929.

. GUST J. GHRISTENSON.

